LEAF has grown out of a love of tea and good times. It’s been a whirlwind of a journey so far, and we’d love to share it with you.
Our Story
Where it all began
LEAF began as a small tea shop run by friends in a Liverpool gallery in 2007. Our quest was to bring quality loose leaf tea to the city in an intimate and bohemian space, and by early 2008 we knew we had found something we loved doing.
A new beginning
Looking to expand and take ourselves off the beaten track, we moved to a big versatile place with loads of potential in late 2008; LEAF Tea Shop and Bar opened on Parliament Street. After a rough ride through stormy recession waters, we started to raft up many accolades and awards, locally and nationally.
Onwards and upwards…
Looking for a bigger space to house our café and monthly events, we found a truly magnificent art deco building in autumn 2010 - the current LEAF on Bold Street. This opening also saw the closure of LEAF on Parliament Street soon after; just as caterpillars turn into butterflies!
Our retail adventure
Our customers requested great loose leaf tea to enjoy at home, and our retail business was born. LEAF tea was retailed and wholesaled from our Bold Street site.
Awards and more…
Soon we began to collect Great Taste awards for our teas and introduced our signature silver tea caddies.
The world wide web
Our vast range of teas were available online and were soon being sent around the globe from Rotherham to Russia.
More venues & stockists
The number of places stocking our teas kept growing - that included some new sister venues which became part of the LEAF family: OH ME OH MY, The Garden at FACT, Goodness Gracious Roof Garden, LEAF on Portland St (Manchester) and ONE FINE DAY.
Pop ups at festivals
We took our teas on the road to festivals, launch parties, exhibitions and more. Some of our amazing partners included The Tate, COS and Topshop. We were thrilled.
TEA INFUSED ALE... THEN GIN
Our desire to develop tea related products saw a partnership with Liverpool Craft Brewery to create a coveted Pale Ale using our Exotic Garden green tea. After the success of the ale, we decided to develop a beautiful dry gin using our Champagne Cassis white tea.
PERSONALISED TEA
With so many birthdays, weddings and special occasions being celebrated in our venues, demand grew for personalised tea products.
CELEBRATE LEAF GIN
Our beautiful dry gin using our Champagne Cassis white tea was awarded IWSC bronze in the world’s premier wine and spirt competition!
We had a makeover
After several years with our much-loved branding, we decided it was time for a change, and in 2018 our shiny new website and brand design was born.
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